Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 14

Briar

It was around midnight when Travis had dropped me off at the fuel station. I had made my way through the main part of town. It was modernized, but still hinted at its rustic old west roots. The moon was high and full in the sky. As tired as I was, my body felt like it was getting its second wind, an excitement bubbling up in me. I had found the crossroads that would take me to the outskirts of Uncle Jake’s property. I couldn’t kick the feeling of being watched, however. This ordeal was making me increasingly paranoid. I took a left, and had gone a few feet, when the howling started. The notes were a beautiful woeful tale sung into the crisp air of the night. It was probably just the wolves at the sanctuary not too far from here, I thought, letting my feet move before another howl sang out from a different direction. I picked up the pace of my own accord. I wasn’t scared, but I also didn’t want to tempt nature. I had five more freaking miles to go. I couldn’t go any faster, the pain in my ribs laced through me, every breath was a war between stopping  and giving in, or forcing my mind through the pain to keep going. The extra weight of my bag, I hadn’t even considered, when I piled up the food and water on the counter of the convenience store. I just kept reminding myself that once I got there, I could rest as much as I wanted.

I looked to the right, into the shrubs and trees on the roadside, and something moved. I pulled out my knife and kept moving. The howls randomly continued as I made my way down the winding road, my heart pounding, my ribs straining, until I finally came to a mailbox with the address on it. Turning down the drive, I groaned. It was a rocky winding road through the trees. Of course, Uncle Jake had to live out in the freaking sticks. I took a deep breath, righting myself, when I almost stumbled. This was the best place for me. Even if Creedon tracked me here, there was no way he’d go through all this trouble for li’l ole me. I couldn’t be worth it, or so I’d hoped.

The sun was just rising over the peaks when I reached the old double wide trailer. I stood stunned, as the sun began shining into the shadowed valley, and crevices of wilderness stretched out before me. Pink and golden hues begging their ascent into the sky. It was absolutely breathtaking. The birds and the critters of the daytime began singing and rustling around. I finally took my gaze off the spectacular landscape and trudged up the small set of steps to the door. I kicked up the mat, no key. Before I glanced around, seeing a gnome off to the side, I picked it up, and BINGO! Found the key. 

When I went to place the key in the lock, I found it wasn’t even locked in the first place! I sighed as I pushed open the door and it squealed; well, that needed some WD-40. Dust wafted in the light coming through the back sliding glass door. I stepped in tentatively, feeling for a light switch. When I found it, it became apparent to me the power wasn’t even hooked up. I groaned. I’d leave that problem for another day. I turned to shut the front door behind me.

My heart stopped as I stared into a pair of yellow eyes crouched in the treeline.

\~~~

I quickly shut the door and locked it, my heart hammering as I wandered into the living area. It stank of old cigarettes and Jim Beam whiskey, but I found it comforting, as it reminded me of Uncle Jake. I turned to the door, peeking out the peephole; no yellow eyes. Had I just imagined it? Would this be my life? Full of paranoia? Fuck that! I wouldn’t give anyone the satisfaction of impeding me from moving on. I’d get through this, one day at a time.

I dropped my backpack on a worn green couch and made my way to the kitchen. The counter was in lived-in disarray, with things strewn about, dusty dishes in the dry rack, but the sink was clean. I turned the knob on the faucet, but nothing trickled out. So, even to clean the place, there was nothing I could do until I got the power on. I walked down the hall finding one bedroom with a queen size bed set up and another with a clusterfuck of stuff. Bike parts, clothing, boxes of all kinds of shit. I shut the door, defeated, and made my way back to the main living space. I locked the sliding glass door, nervous that it didn’t have a curtain, but my body was giving out. Using the backpack as a pillow, and taking his leather jacket off the hook by the door to use as a blanket, I curled up on the couch. I had made it here and nobody had even noticed me. I’d take a day or two to assess the property before I stepped into town.I had lived with less, I reminded myself; the scent of Uncle Jake’s leather jacket and Jim Beam cocooned around me, and I fell into a deep sleep.

~~

I slept into the night, the song of wolves waking me. I got up to stand, staring out the sliding glass door at the moonlit valley below; a beef stick and sour gummies in hand. Something deep within me called to the wilderness before me, but I dared not leave the trailer, as visions of those golden eyes tainted my thoughts.

Creedon. I had been so blinded by the luxuries he afforded me. As if I would have been the girl he picked over all others pawing for his attention. I was just a momentary puppet and he had since brandished his true colors. Why had he risked a relationship with me from the start? Where my dreams had hoped he was the man I needed to facilitate my dreams, I had been reminded it all meant nothing. I was nothing. And those dreams had been washed away by his abuse. Too bad that abuse was now ingrained in me. My trust ruined for anyone who came along next. I didn’t know if I’d ever even be able to trust a good man. How could, or would, anyone overcome that?

I sat in the dining room chair, gazing into the night, bewildered. My eyes lifted, finding the moon, and as I stared at the glow of it, I felt as if I let it consume me. As broken as I felt on the inside, that light somehow gave me strength.

I sat there staring until my allotted snacks were gone; I hadn’t even tasted them, and my eyes suddenly became heavy.